Massachusetts Democrat aims to follow Scott Brown's path

Stephen Lynch is no Scott Brown — for starters, he lacks the men’s catalog good looks and the R next to his name. But the Democratic congressman running for John Kerry’s Senate seat hopes voters will see in him what they admire about the defeated senator: A common-man touch, a pragmatic approach and an ability to connect with moderate working-class voters.

Text Size

-

+

reset

There’s also this: Brown stunned the Democratic establishment three years ago in a special election no one thought he could win. Now Lynch is trying to do the same — against long but not impossible odds — by taking on his party’s candidate of choice, longtime Rep. Ed Markey.

After Brown’s decision this month not to run for the Massachusetts seat — he would have been a slight favorite to win — the showdown between the two Democrats is expected to decide Kerry’s successor.

Markey has the support of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Ted Kennedy’s widow and Kerry himself. He’s been in Congress since 1976 and has more than $3 million in the bank, compared to Lynch’s $760,000 as of the end of 2012.

But it’s been decades since Markey had a tough race, and he’s not inevitable. Lynch, whose record includes votes against abortion rights and Obamacare, boasts a history of upsets, relying on support from labor and the kind of conservative-minded, ancestral Democrats who powered Brown’s 2010 upset win against Martha Coakley.

Lynch thinks Brown not running gives him a big boost.

“If it looks like the main event is going to be the Democratic primary, there will be more people piling into the election,” he told POLITICO.

A majority of the 4 million registered voters in the state are independents. These “unenrolled” voters can vote in either party’s primary on April 30. Just over one-third of voters are Democrats, but only 11 percent are Republicans.

Lynch has a powerful personal story. He grew up in the housing projects in South Boston, got a job as an ironworker and joined the same union as his dad, eventually running it. He put himself through law school before entering politics.

Massachusetts Democratic Chairman John Walsh, who is staying neutral, welcomed a primary fight.

“He’s never lost a race, but he’s never entered a race that he wasn’t supposed to lose,” Walsh said of Lynch. “I understand that there are certain measurements where you would say Markey has some advantage. They’re undeniable, but I suspect this will be a competitive primary — which I like. These two guys are going to spend the next 79 days activating new Democrats for us.”

Walsh said that in the old days a few dozen party leaders might have been able to sway the election for Markey. Now it comes down to 20,000 or 30,000 activists.

Endorsements help, he said, but “the real challenge and skill that’s needed is finding those organizers, cobbling them together, giving them the resources.”

“People here love John Kerry. I wouldn’t be disrespectful of his support,” Walsh added, “but I don’t think the theory of clearing the field is likely to succeed and it wasn’t a good idea, honestly.”